British police are investigating a series of alleged mysterious assaults on disabled top British scientist Stephen Hawking, the Daily Mirror reported on Monday.

Hawking achieved international prominence in 1988 with "A Brief History of Time" which examined the origin of the universe. [AP/file]

The paper said detectives wanted to question Hawking, a Cambridge University professor and author of the best selling "A Brief History of Time," about a number of minor injuries he had recently suffered.

"The family are worried sick. They've been suspicious for some time that someone has been harming Stephen," an unnamed source told the paper.

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire police said he could neither confirm or deny the Mirror story.

The world famous physicist is confined to a wheelchair after contracting motor neurone disease, a muscle-wasting condition, while at university. He can only speak through a computerized voice synthesizer.

Hawking, 62, achieved international prominence in 1988 with "A Brief History of Time" which examined the origin of the universe.

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